OUR NEW LIFE in BLACK FOREST

We have had a very busy, but productive several weeks in Kandern, our new home in the Schwarzwald of southern Germany. We love our small city of Kandern and are making new friends within the German church and international school communities. Our only disappointment is this 2 month process to get DSL (made request 3 weeks before we arrived), setting up phone and internet - a surprise for us in this well-organized, meticulous culture!

FIRST ACTIVITIES!
Attending our local Kandern Free Evangelical German Church and making new contacts there.

Exploring with our neighbors the nearby, smaller town of Sitzenkirch, where Hannah's middle school building is (Sarah will be at the main Kandern high school building). Pictures above are from the walk.

Traveling by train and bus to the large city of Freiburg for our visa process and paperwork filing. And we met a member of another nearby evangelical church on the bus!

Visiting smaller city of Lörrach on Swiss border to inquire about our German driver's license.

We bought season passes for the girls to swim in the Kandern city pool - a chilly 68 degree temperature water - the Germans don't mind it, and neither do our kids!

Rob went to a regional church planters' meeting near Freiburg and also to the city of Müllheim for an interdenominational conference event called ChristusTag, where different churches of the region coming together and challenging the attendees to bring the hope of Jesus into the world. Rob connected with JANZ Team mission leaders and they went out into the city in the afternoon, using a questionnaire to start spiritual discussions with people on the streets. See pictures of the conference here below:

Heading to Germany!

On June 8th, we arrive in Deutschland to serve with Church Resource Ministries there, after 7 years with CRM at the Hungarian-Serbian border. We have an apartment to rent in an old German home in the town of Kandern, SW Germany. We will be just 20 minutes from the Swiss border and large metro area of Basel, Switzerland. Our initial partnership focus is with the German Free Evangelical denomination, as they have invited us to support their pastors and leaders in starting new churches, in addition to supporting the growth of existing fellowships in the German State of Baden-Württemberg. Rob is always open to crossing borders, so there may some opportunity to venture into German-speaking Switzerland. We look forward to seeing how the Lord leads us forward!

Our new home - we will rent the first floor and finished basement of this house. Another family rents the top 2 floors in the long roof.

We will live on the sunny side of the Kandern valley - sun will rise into our front windows and we have our own little piece of yard to use!

We will attend the local Kandern Free Evangelical Church (renting building above), where we will work with Pastor Markus and his leaders.

At the annual Free Evangelical near Stuttgart, Rob connected with many leaders who are helping pursue the start of 100 new churches in 10 years. Rob discovered that there are many southern cities and towns that have very few, if any, living faith communities to bring hope and light.

Rob with nationwide Church Plant Director Dietrich. Great to have his invitation to come partner with leaders and communities in the South.

THE GIRLS' NEW SCHOOL!

This is the entrance to the Black Forest Academy school in Kandern where Sarah will enter 9th grade and Hannah 6th grade in August.

Walking downtown in our new town of Kandern.

Some of the February Black Forest landscape in the area.

The 3 Girls in Freiburg last spring when we visited the Black Forest area. Freiburg is the "capital" of southern Black Forest, and where Rob studied a semester in 1991 - 20 years ago!

Hungarian Friends Visit Us in Virginia

We have been moving through an eventful and challenging year in the USA. Transitions are not easy, as we left Szeged last summer and have been planning for our new life in Germany, where we arrive in June. But we are thankful to family and many friends with whom we have had extra time in the States this past year. Before we share more of our plans toward Deutschland, we would like to share one of the highlights of the year - the visit of our Hungarian friends to us here in Virginia!

The Mihalecz family - Béla, Bea, and daughter Regina (Regi) - visit was a great joy for us, as they came for 11 days on their first trip out of their homeland. We had such a wonderful time with them here in Central Virginia. We hosted them in our temporary home in Maidens outside Richmond, and we introduced them to many friends in the area, including several events with our Hope Church family. We made a special trip down to Donna's family in Dinwiddie County and enjoyed a visit to Central Baptist Church there as well. Virginia history and culture was important as we made trips to Charlottesville and Williamsburg. See the pics below for better flavor of these special days together!

Szeged-Szőreg Farewell Party

Before leaving Hungary, we had a number of meaningful gatherings with friends. The biggest event was hosted by Béla and Bea at their strawberry farm. In cooperation with several fellowships in the Szeged area, they prepared all sorts of special surprises for us - 4 sets of music, testimonies, Communion, and various gifts to thank us for our ministry partnership over the past 7 years. One of the greatest surprises was Kübekháza Mayor Robi Molnar's gift to us - Honorary Citizenship to their town! Here is just a sampling of the pictures.

The WELCOME SIGN on Béla's gate entrance.

The hosts Béla and Bea in front of their greenhouse. They did a wonderful job organizing and leading the afternoon.

Szilveszter from Zion Church and Mihaly (Mishi) from Cornerstone Church warming up their guitars.

Zion Church Youth Band performing with István's leadership.

Mishi presenting us with a "stamp" souvenir from the Hungarian Railway, where he works.

András and Erzsi shared some special thoughts and memories.

Cornerstone Church gave us this nice plaque remembering our ministry partnership together.

Kübekháza Mayor Robi Molnar shared some encouragement and.....

we got a big surprise - Honorary citizenship to their town of Kübekháza!!

An AMAZING CROSS sign appeared before Communion!

Zion Pastor Botond, New Song Pastor Szabolcs, Cornerstone Leader András led our Communion time together.

There was very special prayer for each of us - here Sarah and Hannah were prayed for.
Most the BIG GROUP all together on the Farm!

Music and Packing!

Each spring there is a county-wide chorus competition, and Sarah's school chorus of 70+ kids participates. They won the Gold this year, with nation-wide recognition! As they waited to perform, I snapped a picture of her with best friend, Reka (to her right) and Pati.

Hannah, too, is developing her music skills. She thought it an appropriate time to learn to play the recorder in the midst of our stressful packing! She's doing quite well with it--and continues to be our little comedian, providing necessary comic relief!

We're thankful for music!